Objectification of Women in perfume ads for men

In perfume ads for men, perfumes are presented as tools to get the desired object, women. Sex is being used to sell the perfume, by saying “if you have this perfume, then you will have sex”. Specifically with a beautiful woman, and so are women objectified. They become a goal, a thing to be gotten through the product. This is done to sell the perfume at all. Perfume is seen as a feminine product, so it must be advertised in a way that is both masculine and heterosexual. As with Esquire “It had to be made clear that women were the natural objects of its readership’s desire”.1

This is also because sex sells, “The porn industry makes between $10 Billion and $14 Billion annually”.2 The Tom Ford ads, for example, hit you over the head with the promise of sex. The Azzaro ads show two people, presumably in a relationship. While the Emporio Armani ads imply that women will come after someone wearing their scent. Notice that all the sex promised is heterosexual. This is to legitimize the act of men buying perfume.

Works Cited:

1Breazeale, Kenon. (2003) “In Spite o f Women: Esquire Magazine and the Construction of the Male Consumer,” pp. 230-243 in Gender, Race, and Class in Media, edited by Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications

2Rich, Frank. (2003) “Naked Capitalists,” pp. 48-60 in Gender, Race, and Class in Media, edited by Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications

3All images were found on Imageshack,